Over the past year or so, I've collected what I think is the largest golf blogroll on the internet. Although I've only posted a handful of my favorites in my "Artful Blogs" list in the right column of this page, my complete list of golf blogs is rapidly approaching 300! And this list only includes the blogs and news sites that publish an RSS feed.


Chambers Bay Golf Course by mistymisschristie at flickr

I've found blogs that offer information about golf courses, golf destinations, golf instruction, golf equipment, golf rules, golf books, golf tips, golf news, golf photos, golf videos, golf fitness, and personal experiences playing golf. Some bloggers share their quests to play professionally, some to reach scratch, some to simply learn the game or to play their best. These blogs include experts from club making to shot making to course design and photo taking. Most simply share news from the world of professional golf, but many provide insightful course reviews, travel recommendations, and plenty of advice.

Make sure to browse this growing list of golf blogs, including my new favorite by Cameron Strachan from down under. Cameron provides great instruction using a mixture of science and natural learning principles to help you play a better golf game. Then there's the Wedge Guy who not only shares everything you wanted to know about wedges, but some great advice on the short game too. And for some excellent video instruction, visit Shawn Clement Golf.

You can get great reviews of golf resorts and vacation packages at Golf Vacation Insider. If you're brushing up on the rules of golf, make sure to visit Free Drop by rules expert John Vander Borght. Mike Pedersen can help if you're finally ready to get fit, providing great advice on strength training, stretching, nutrition, and exercise. Or perhaps you'd like to follow a golfer's pursuit of golf's holy grail, playing the Top 100 Golf Courses in the world. For everything you wanted to know about golf architecture, head over to Ian Andrew's Caddy Shack. A favorite for equipment reviews and golf news is The Sand Trap and if you want opinions on everything golf, don't miss Geoff Shackelford.


Mørk Golf Club in Norway by SvendO at flickr

Although I don't consider myself much of a photographer, one of my favorite websites is flickr.com. Flickr is a thriving online community for photographers of all types and abilities, including plenty of golf enthusists. Each member gets their own "photo blog" where they can post photos and other members provide critique. You can check out the most recent golf photos posted by these members here.

You can find photos taken of golf courses in Michigan, the California Central Coast, Ireland, Bandon, Washington, Chambers Bay, California Bay Area, and lots more.

Flickr also provides groups where members can post their photos for a particular interest or category. There's a Golf Course Photography group, Golf group, another Golf group, Blog du Golf group, and of course, a Golf Babes group.


Old Tom Morris by Chris Gallow at flickr

A final place to spend some time to get some advice for your game, your next vacation, or your next club purchase are golf discussion forums. Some favorites include Golf Club Atlas to discuss the world's finest golf courses, GolfWrx and The Sand Trap to discuss the latest in golf equipment and tour news, and Shivas Irons Society to discuss golf literature and art (this forum is new and needs a jump start - don't hestitate to share your opinions). Another popular forum is hosted by Golf Digest.

Hopefully you're spending more time outdoors on the links instead of inside surfing these links, but if the weather's really bad, you can at least play these Mini Putt Games or this impressive new World Golf Tour. World Golf Tour is made entirely with Flash using real golf courses. The first course that they have is Bali Hai Golf Club in Las Vegas, but they're working on digitizing the Kiawah Ocean course and Pinehurst #2 and #8. According to an article in Fortune, it currently takes about a dozen people and six months of work to digitize a course, a process that costs the company $200K. If this takes off, new courses may pay that fee to get in the game and promote themselves! The game right now is limited to a closest to the pin contest, but eventually they'll have full online tournaments, complete with prizes, and you'll be able to play online with your friends in a virtual foursome.

Please don't hesitate to add a comment and share links to some of your favorite and most artful golf websites!

Labels: Golf Blogs, Golf Forums, Golf Games, Golf Photos, Links

During the last month, between December 14th and January 13th, I played 12 rounds of golf and broke 80 in every round. For me, that's quite an accomplishment (and for this time of year, quite a luxury). I usually sprinkle in a couple rounds in the low 80's for every few rounds in the 70's. I never seem to keep my good rounds going. My previous streak in the 70's ended at 7. But something changed in the last month - my short game. I also got back down under 4 and shot my second hole-in-one!


The 12th at Augusta, by winkman at flickr

Last weekend during a Men's Club tournament, I aced the 140 yard par 3 11th at Cypress Ridge Golf Course! Interestingly, my first ace, which occurred just over a year ago on the 5th at Monarch Dunes, was also from exactly 140 yards. And, like my first ace, I had to buy drinks for nearly 30 golfers after the round, which were thankfully funded by my skins winnings. I got to witness my first ace where I hit an 8-iron straight into the wind and watched my ball land on the green, bounce twice, then disappear on the third bounce. On the 11th at Cypress Ridge, the hole was hidden from view by a hill and frontside bunker. After hitting a solid 9-iron right at the pin, we all jumped up to see how close I got. We saw my ball in line with the pin, but with such a momentary peek, we were unable to determine how close it was or even if it was in front of or behind the hole. The next golfer got up and actually hit the pin on the fly! We saw his ball bounce hard off the pin and roll 20-30 feet from the hole. When we got up to the green, we only saw 3 balls. We soon found my ball in the hole! We finally determined that the best explanation was that my ball had rolled up against the pin but didn't drop until the other player's ball hit the pin.

More importantly, the ace got me to 4-under par! We had a shotgun start beginning on the 5th hole. I birdied the par 4 7th and par 5 9th to get to 2-under. The ace on 11 then put me 4-under - after only 7 holes! This was the first time I'd ever gotten to 4-under during a round. The first time I got to 3-under, which was also after 7 holes, I dashed my hopes for a career round with a quadruple bogey on the 8th hole! This time, although I managed one more birdie later in the round, I threw in too many bogies and finished with a 1-over 73, still tying the lowest score for the day.

My 73 finish also gave me back-to-back 73's. Just 2 days earlier I had shot a 2-over 73 at Monarch Dunes after going 3-over after 7 holes. I finished that round a little stronger, finishing the last 11 holes with 1 bogie and 2 birdies. I finished both rounds with 31 putts, hitting 14 greens and 10 fairways in one round and 13 greens and 12 fairways in the other. Amazingly, my 73 at Cypress Ridge included 4 3-putts! So, although my short game improved, my putting, and one or two poor shots, is all that kept me from that elusive round in the 60's.

In my prior 10 rounds I had kept my scores in a small range between 75 and 79. I had 2 rounds of 79, both scored from the back tees at Monarch Dunes (73.0/137) - quite a challenge - where I also shot an 81 just prior to and ending the 12 round streak of 70's. So, although the streak ended on a challenging course, shooting an ace in the round prior certainly softened the blow!

The streak included 3 different golf courses and 6 different tee locations, one on a course I'd never played before. During the holiday while visiting family in San Diego, I played Encinitas Ranch with my brother-in-law, which was highlighted by driving the green on a 285 yard par 4 and hitting 2 lengthy par 5's in 2. I nearly shot even-par for the round, but immaturely slapped at a couple putts after missing easy birdie opportunities and turned them into 3-putt bogies. Argh!

It was quite satisfying to get the new year off to such a great start, and to so easily identify where I still have work to do - putting and patience! Also, I'm making some decisions to stick with my goal to maintain balance. I've decided to keep playing hockey next season even though it interferes with my Tuesday night golf league and I'm passing up a Men's Club tournament next month to go see Wicked in Los Angeles with my wife and daughter - again!

Labels: Ace, Rounds

While corresponding with Reid Sheftall, M.D. after reading his book, he introduced me to Tom Coyne, author of Paper Tiger, a hilarious golf story about his journey pursuing his PGA Tour card. I ordered the book and finished reading it in 2 days. I've honestly never laughed out loud more while reading a book! I can't tell you how many times I interrupted my wife, who could care less about golf, to read her another funny paragraph. Based on her response, I think you may need to be an avid golfer to fully appreciate this story of a weekend golfer who pursues his dream.


Tom Coyne's Paper Tiger

Growing up as a young golfer and caddy, Tom Coyne could hit towering drives from the tee, and wondered if the pros succeeded because they were more innately talented or just because they were more obsessed. But after self-destructing in a freshman tryout for his college golf team, he resigned himself to a playing career on the scramble-and-kegger charity circuit. Now, on the cusp of turning thirty, overweight and saddled with a 14 handicap, Coyne makes the dramatic decision to embark on a yearlong quest to doing everything he can to elevate his game--and discover if he has what it takes to make it through the PGA Tour Qualifying School.

Unlike Sheftall's more independent pursuit of the same goal, Coyne gets started by purchasing dozens of golf books, instructional videos, gadgets and swing aids, hits tens of thousands of golf balls, and spends a small fortune on a swing doctor, nutrition expert, fitness coach, and sports psychologist. Although Coyne's approach does prove to deliver results, shaving strokes and pounds, the journey proves to be a wild and humorous one.

While seeking a balance between knowing and doing, he asks, "we call it a thinking man's game, but with so many golf problems and solutions to consider, might we have turned golf into an over-thinking man's game?" He realizes, "the mind-set of the writer and the tournament golfer could not be more opposed. The writer over-thinks by necessity, collecting and complicating small details, while the tournament golfer needs to be simple, myopic, fixated on one detail at a time." He receives some valuable advice, "If you're going to get really good at this game, you're going to have to get a little dumber."

Regarding fitness Coyne declares, "the jury is still out in the case of more hours on the range versus more hours in the gym. Can sit-ups really save you strokes? The silhouettes of Craig Stadler, John Daly, Tim Herron don't bolster the case that you need to love the salad bar to make low numbers. Yet I fear that their breed may be endangered... The way Tiger looks and dresses, the way the young Euro thoroughbreds wear outfits that seem to be painted on--it is all meticulous, and to be a winner in golf's future, there might be little room for anything but."

Coyne's commitment to nutrition and fitness pays off as he sheds pounds and gains strength and flexibility, but he fully experiences the karma of fitness: "The more fun you have letting yourself go, the more you will suffer as you fight your way back."

While diligently improving his health and swing, he also gets properly fit with the latest and greatest equipment from Mizuno. He acknowledges, "that while technology has gotten better--shafts move faster and balls move further--but if we don't complement some of the advances in equipment with advances in our own makeup, faster means wilder, longer means wronger." His dedication to improving his own makeup gradually does deliver results - Coyne lowers his index from the mid-teens to scratch by the time he's ready for Q-School.

But as expected, Coyne's biggest challenges to playing competitively turn out to be mental. He faces these inevitable (and sometimes unexpected) challenges with resigned humor, and his readers are rewarded by learning from these experiences as well.

Perhaps the biggest lesson Coyne learns during his journey is learning to "get to yes" before pulling the trigger. He's first introduced to this concept when he mets a young golfer at Q-School the year prior to his own attempt. This golfers shares that "he tries to work on his visualization. I don't think too much about mechanics. You can't let yourself get wrapped up in mechanics, not when you're trying to make a number. I try to see my target, I think about the shot I want to hit. If I can be clear about my target and commit to what I'm trying to do, if I can get to yes before I go, and not pull the trigger till I do--then more often than not, it's a pretty solid result."

Coyne replies, "my current concept of target is anyplace where I have better than a 50 percent chance of finding my ball."

After interviewing a handful of potential swing coaches, Coyne eventually chooses the same coach this young golfer recommends. This coach teaches him, "If you step up to the first tee wondering what you're going to shoot, thinking about how you're going to play, how you're going to finish against your opponent, then you have adopted what I call a Questioning Mind-set. The only expectation that you can bring into a golf shot--the only expectation that works--is expecting yourself to pick a target with complete focus and clarity, and commit to that one, single golf shot. This is a Yes Mind-set, not a hoping or questioning way of looking at your golf swing. You are going to have to accept your results and your scores for what they are. You have to start thinking about your success on the golf course as whether or not you gave your best effort on each and every shot, one at a time.... when you can do that, then the winning often takes care of itself."

But as the pressures of competition take a toll on his body and mind as he approaches his goal, Coyne ultimately must choose between the love of a fickle game and the love of the long-suffering woman who has stood by him throughout all the shanks, hooks, yips, and chili-dips. By the end of the story, you'll find that Coyne finally figures out how to pick his target and his "getting to yes" will certainly move you.

Tom Coyne, Paper Tiger

Labels: Books, Paper Tiger, Tom Coyne